| Dmitry Mikhaylovich Karbyshev | |
|---|---|
General Dmitry Karbyshev in 1940 |
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| Born | October 14, 1880 Omsk, Russian Empire |
| Died | February 18, 1945 (aged 64) Mauthausen, Austria |
| Allegiance | Russian Empire, Soviet Union |
| Service/branch | Russian Imperial Army, Red Army |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | Russo-Japanese War World War I Russian Civil War Winter War World War II |
Dmitry Mikhaylovich Karbyshev (Russian: Дмитрий Михайлович Карбышев) ( October 26 [O.S. October 14] 1880, Omsk — February 18, 1945, Mauthausen, Austria) was a Red Army general and Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously).
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Karbyshev was born in Omsk , where his father was a military officer. His father died when he was twelve, and he was raised by his mother. Despite financial difficulties, he graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps in 1898 and went on to attend the Nykolaiv Petersburg Military Engineering Academy (present-day Saint Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University (Nikolaevsky), from which he graduated in 1900. He was assigned to serve in the 1st East Siberian Sapper Battalion, in charge of battlefield telegraph operations, and was stationed in Manchuria.
During the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905), Karbyshev was responsible in building bridges, and conducting reconnaissance patrols, as well as telegraph operations. He was at the Battle of Mukden and was decorated for bravery. He was promoted to lieutenant at the end of the war.
Karbyshev subsequently served in Vladivostok. He returned to St. Petersburg to graduate from the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy in 1911. Promoted to captain, he was then sent to Brest-Litovsk as commander of a military engineering company, and participated in the construction of the Brest Fortress.
At the start of World War I, Karbyshev was involved in combat operations in the Carpathians under General Aleksei Brusilov’s 8th Army on the Southwestern Front. In early 1915, he was at the Siege of Przemyśl, where he was wounded in the leg. He was decorated with the Order of St. Anne for bravery. In 1916, he participated in the Brusilov Offensive. However, with the February Revolution and the collapse of the Russian Empire, Karbyshev joined the Red Guard in December 1917 while stationed at Mohyliv-Podilskyi. From 1918, he was an officer in the Bolshevik Red Army.
During the Russian Civil War, Karbyshev oversaw the construction of numerous fortifications, and held senior positions at the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District. In 1920, he was chief engineer of the Soviet 5th Army and supervised sapper assaults on White movement fortifications in the Crimea.
From 1923-1926, Karbyshev was chairman of the Engineering Committee of the Main Military Engineering Management (WPRA) of the Red Army. From 1926, he became an instructor at the Frunze Military Academy, and from 1936 he joined the General Staff Academy. In 1941 he earned a degree of the Doctor of Military Sciences.[1] He was awarded the academic title of professor in 1938, and the military rank of lieutenant general in the Corps of Engineers in 1940, followed by a doctorate in military sciences in 1941. He published over 100 scientific papers on military engineering and military history. His speciality was in the construction and destruction of barriers, and on the issues involved in forcing rivers and other water hazards. His articles and manuals on the theory of engineering and battlefield operations and tactics were required reading for the commanders of the Red Army in the prewar years. He was also a consultant for the restoration of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius outside of Moscow.
During the Winter War of 1939–40 between the Soviet Union and Finland, Karbyshev travelled to the front lines to advise troops on how to defeat the Mannerheim Line.
With the start of World War II, Karbyshev was assigned to the Soviet 3rd Army and Grodno, followed by the headquarters of the Soviet 10th Army, which was encircled and destroyed during the Battle of Białystok–Minsk. In August 1941, Karbyshev was serious wounded in combat at the Dnieper River in what is now the Mogilev Region in Belarus, and was captured by the Nazis.
Karbyshev was held at a succession of concentration camps, including Hammelburg , Flossenburg , Majdanek , Auschwitz , Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen. Refusing repeated offers from the Nazis to solicit his cooperation, and despite his advanced age, he was one of the most active leaders of the camp resistance movement. On the night of February 17, 1945, he was one of 500 prisoners doused with cold water and left to expire in the frost. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on August 16, 1946.
A minor planet 1959 Karbyshev discovered in 1972 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova is named after him.[2]
The Soviet Union issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in 1961 and in 1980. There are also streets in numerous cities in the former Soviet Union named after Karbyshev.
(Soviet Union)